Founded in 1876, W. Atlee Burpee & Company grew to be the largest seed company in the world by the early twentieth century. In 1924 the company advertised a contest in its Seed Annual asking customers to write in about “What Burpee’s Seeds Have Done for Me,” with prizes for the best stories ranging from […]
When the abandoned gas station that had been owned by artist Vickie Jo Sowell’s long-time neighbor Big Daddy Green burned down in 2001, the City of Emeryville asked her what she thought should be done with the site. Big Daddy’s Complete Rejuvenating Community Garden is the result, the name a riff on Mr. Green’s original […]
Note from the Artist and founder: “Before you read the story of the Please Touch Garden I would like to dedicate this story with a thank you to the many that helped make it possible. I did pour my heart into making the Please Touch Community Garden a reality, but it was truly the many […]
Initially, a group of Lafayette Community members came together to form the Local Foods Group under the inspired leadership of local “green” activists. From 2008 through 2011 the group searched Lafayette for an appropriate site to establish a community garden and outdoor learning center. The goal was to create an inviting community space where citizens […]
The Archives of American Gardens includes the business records of a number of nurseries and seed companies that operated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries including W. Atlee Burpee & Company. The collection consists of approximately 12,715 items, including account books, diaries, seed trial records, office correspondence, contest letters, seed catalogs, and other items […]
Nestled within the thirty acres of one of the most beautiful zoos sits a small parcel of land dedicated to education, conservation and promotion of gardening at the Santa Barbara Zoo. The idea of an onsite garden had been bounced back and forth among staff for a number of years. After the completion of a […]
Flowers in my grandmother’s garden are some of my first memories as a toddler—and taking walks with my grandfather as he told me the names of trees and bushes—so a home garden community of plants and birds has always been essential to our family. We now are developing a Butterfly Garden and Wildlife Habitat and […]
In the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in La Cañada Flintridge, north of Los Angeles, California is the largest collection of camellias in North America. Descanso’s 150 acres are filled with native California plants, a rose garden, flowering cherry trees and camellias planted along winding pathways which makes it a peaceful place to walk […]
The Huntington Botanical Garden was named an International Camellia Garden of Excellence in 2001 by the International Camellia Society because it has one of the most comprehensive collections of camellias in North America. There are 60 species and 1,200 cultivars beautifully planted along pathways on both sides of the North Vista and on the North […]
This little gem is located in Pasadena, California originally designed in the mid 1930s. The garden has recently been restored, remaining true to its original pre-war design. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. The garden is well planted with a variety of traditional Japanese plants including Camellia japonica cultivars, a lovely pond, two waterfalls, […]
The peacock is the iconic symbol of this 127-acre garden. They serve as unofficial greeters whenever one enters. Lucky Baldwin, the owner before it became a county property, imported three pairs from China around 1910. Today the population is around 250, with pea hens, babies in various stages of development, and the iconic beautiful peacock. […]
Nuccio’s Nurseries roots are firmly established in their Italian American family. The nursery began when Joe and Julius Nuccio began to grow camellias and azaleas in their parent’s backyard in Alhambra, California in the 1930s. The two brothers began to propagate camellias and azaleas which led them to grow seedlings, hoping to produce new cultivars. […]
We visited this free garden in Palo Alto, California when we read it was added to the American Camellia Society Camellia Trail. We were not disappointed. It is the former home and garden of Elizabeth Gamble, the granddaughter of the founder of Proctor & Gamble. It was given to the city of Palo Alto, which […]
Filoli is a country house estate on 654 acres in Woodside, California. There are sixteen acres of beautifully designed formal gardens around the house. In the spring the perennial garden shines with lovely blue delphiniums taking center stage. The mass plantings of the cutting garden flowers bloom during the summer have looked good every time […]
In the spring, gardeners hope for spring rain “to bring May flowers.” The awakening of new growth on perennials brings hope for flowers. The long-lived peonies come to mind as they grew every year on my grandparent’s farm, reliably blooming every June. During the summer we hope the annual seeds sowed will grow and bloom […]